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Safety Covers vs. Solid Covers

Mark Thompson - Monday, August 29, 2016

Why do they even make solid covers??? I wonder this every year after hearing at least 1 horror story of the death of a family pet that was trapped in the pool after running on the solid cover with no way to escape once they got submerged in the water. While I have been fortunate to not have had any clients that have lost a child, I have heard of such stories. It is tragic. It is sad. And it is completely avoidable.

Solid covers were designed to be an economical way to cover a pool for winterization to keep leaves, dirt, and debris out of the pool. They are large pieces of tarp that are held in place by water bags. These water bags are placed side by side around the perimeter of the pool using the weight of the water to hold the cover in place.

These solid covers have many attributes that help make them unsafe.

Since the covers are set in place by water bags, any weight that gets on the cover can slide the cover from underneath the water bags and allow the cover to fall in the pool. Can you imagine if that weight ends up being a child or a pet or any other animal that may happen to wander on to the cover? What if a young child chases a ball or another toy onto that cover?

The leaves, dirt, and debris that the cover is designed to prevent getting into the pool ends up staying on the cover with all the rain, snow, and ice. It makes your cover extremely dirty and turns your yard into a messy haven for mosquitoes. What an eyesore!
In addition, when the cover is removed in the Spring, guess where all that nasty debris goes...in the pool. Have fun cleaning that up? Your other option is cleaning the cover prior to opening. Have fun doing that.

The water bags are made of a thin vinyl that is easily susceptable to being punctures or developing a pinhole leak. Since the water leaks out, the water bag is no longer helping hold the cover in place. This is making the cover even more unsafe.

Every year, we are consistently removing bricks, weights, planters or other materials that a client used to replace a water bag in the hopes that this will keep the cover in place. A lot of the times, it doesn't and the client is either having to clean the mess up in the pool or pay to have a service company do it. What a mess.

What's a better option? A safety cover is your best option and a safe one!

A safety cover is held tightly across the pool by anchors that are mounted in your deck. They are custom made for a perfect fit for your pool. While it looks like a trampoline, it does not bounce. However, it is so strong, it can hold the weight of a car! It is extremely strong.

Brass anchors are installed into the deck. These anchors screw flush to the deck when the cover is not in use and it unscrews when the cover is in use. Tension springs, which are attached to the cover, hook around these anchors. These springs have heavy duty straps that are tightened around the tension springs making the cover tight and secure.

In addition to being very safe for you and your family, it is appealing to your backyard environment. It is easily cleaned with a leaf blower if it is a mesh cover or you can use your pole and brush if it is a solid safety cover. The solid safety covers will do a better job at preventing algae during the winter since it does not allow sunlight to enter.

Contact us today to schedule a free quote of a safety cover or you can call us at (770) 886-7870.